Umster

For someone who's just got his hands onto a track toy, what should I worry about from a logistics point of view? I want to drive the car to and from my local track, I've got some funds to make it a once a month habit but aside from a helmet, I'm a little naive to it all. Anyone care to help a noob?

For Sale - £24,895 - non negotiable. 2010 4 door saloon M3 with timeless/private registration (M-- --3). Currently at 85,000 miles but will increase with time. This is my weekend car. Alpine White with Fox Red extended interior leather and sunroof. LCI with CIC iDrive. Full service history, with running in service. In my 2 years of ownership, Swift Performance have serviced the car and replaced DCT Sump and DCT fluid, differential fluid, brake fluid, new front discs and pads (DS2500), new rear discs, engine oil and filter change (per 6k miles). Inconel M Performance exhaust (purchased and fitted by BMW when I purchased the car - none of that droney tacky 2 pipe mod) , Carbon Fibre vent splitters, Carbon Fibre side repeaters, Carbon Fibre spoiler. Steering wheel retrimmed with alcantara and perforated leather to match handbrake. The car has been paint corrected and ceramic coated. Split seats, with Easy Access option (pull rear seats using toggles in boot), keyless entry, 2 keys, alcantara retrimmed interior, red M button, red start button and carbon fibre DCT paddles. Included in sale are original trims and spoiler. Options at new purchase include: Skii Storage Sunroof Rear privacy blinds Easy Access (keyless entry) Easy Access Rear Split Seats PDC front and rear 7 speed DCT EDC (variable suspension) Common issues rectified. Rod bearings, throttle actuators and ABS sensors all replaced. Paperwork included. Usual stone chips for age of car. Windscreen has been replaced. 5+ owners. I have other car parts to come with the car (including engine oil, oil bottles and carry cases, DCT fluid). The car has been babied during my ownership and by previous owners. DM for further photos and with any questions. No test drives unless proof of insurance and proof of funds. Folder with paperwork from all previous owners. Umbrella and 1L oil and carry case are complimentary 😝

I've just taken snaps of my E90 M3 - will post it later but well within your budget. Fun, sporty and actually practical.

I went with big red in the end.

If you're after power, practicality and quick shifts, I have an E90 M3 that I'd be open to part with. Will be a post on here once I have a free day to take photos.

I'm curious to see what WBAC say - rumours are that the gravy train has been and gone and trade in prices have returned to "normal" offensive rates

Just wow.

VED, fuel duty, income tax, insurance premium tax etc. All goes into the big pot and gets divvyed up. Quite a few taxes there that cyclists don't have to pay but mehh I won't debate that anymore here. I don't dispute leaving distances but points and a large fine. The points are deterrent enough, I mean heck, for speeding you get given a chance to do a speed awareness course. To me, its just a cash making exercise. Better ways to educate the public and drivers on how the share the road then milking cash.

I think that's the crux of it. He was in the wrong and could have nipped it in the bud. He stuck to his principles and paid the price. Just worries me how big these fines can be, especially when you consider the amount of tax paid by the driver to keep the car on the road in the first place. Not sure the cyclist has had to pay as much to stay on the road. I don't believe the government changed the rules for anyone's benefit but HMRC's. But that's another debate.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-61815609 Looks like the government needs more money, and this is the way its going to do it.

Depends. Do you want stance? Fast road? Track? Drift?

I guess if you can convince someone the car is one of one then you can demand whatever price you want.

More money than sense

You could easily salvage that W brace. Surprised its that healthy, is it a JDM import?

Love it 🤣

Thank you but no thank you 🤣 forced my Mrs to hand hers back in cause its an overpriced piece of slush. Hate cars with 4 seats that fit 2 humans and 2 legless manikins. 2 seats, silly looks and something that isn't overpopulating every car park. Yes please!

Totally right. However, I was a big fan of the Z. Its old school enough to enjoy but now with a refresh inside, the car might be a bundle of fun all over again. Engine was bulletproof, parts were easy and cheap to come by and you didn't have to keep them OEM+. People liked modding them as they saw fit. There are better cars than the Z but they cost plenty to buy, to service and/or to enjoy daily. No performance turbo gassed car gets 35mpg on a run like the Z. ECP/Torqen/Tarmac don't expect a small fortune for pads/fluids/dispensables.

Exhaust prices these days are becoming a joke. Guess the market knows with all the noise/emissions regulations that there is a cash cow of a market. Granted, I have no issue paying a small fee towards the large research costs on some of the aftermarket exhausts but jheeze. Again, I guess I'm happy to judge knowing I won't buy one brand new, especially not until a face-lift model with all the little easy fixes comes out 😇

Mehhh for the price point, I don't expect the auto to be a game changer, it's just got to work. It'd be great to see dyno charts and how the engine behaves over the rev range. I mean even BMW struggled with launch control on their last iterations of DCT. Auto boxes have so much info going into them to process, they can fall over pretty easily. The Holy Grail atm is the ZF transmission and Nissan don't have it. It'll be nice to see how easy it is to remap the gearbox and tune out the niggles. There's always been an issue (cheap and/or small tbf) with the Z and the aftermarket has always come to the rescue.

Definitely the gaskets then. I bought a car with Cobra HFC and exhaust. The gaskets were blown to ashes - spray some soapy water onto the exhaust flanges and anywhere an exhaust leak might be before you turn the car on. Once on the ramp you'll see the water spitting if there's a leak/blown gasket. Get an exhaust shop to make gaskets or as H Dev told me, just buy and use Nissan OEM gaskets. They're miles better than the ones supplied with aftermarket exhausts.

Exhaust. Get the car on a ramp/jack and take a peek under. If you can't see anything obvious, it could be a cat/cat heat shield or a blown gasket. Doesn't sound like a gasket but I'm not sure what exhaust you're running and how old the car is.

Agreed. Not even OEM fits perfectly, cars change with time and as much as you think money means quality, it doesn't add up for cars IMO. Not unless you've owned the car from new and know of all the issues/dings/weird panel gaps from factory. Speak to a few bodyshops and get their recommendations.

Anyone here able to recommend someone to refurbish 4 brake calipers (including seals)? Goes without saying that I can get them sent off to any workshop via post in the country. Google has a few recommendations but I don't trust some of the reviews out there.

I'm confused why everyone thinks it'll be categorised. I've had 2 cars hit into whilst parked up and both times their insurance sorted my car out without any change on my premium or policy or V5C. Yes you'll have to declare it on any future insurance quotes but if you're not at fault then it changes little to nothing. It may also get registered on insurance systems but 9/10 it doesn't. Only time it's guaranteed to be registered on the system is if insurance claim it as a write off. Provided you can drive it and no electronics were damaged then its not a write off. Personally find it easier letting their insurance sort stuff out because if you can request OEM parts without having to source them and you get a lifetime guarantee on work. You'll also (if applicable) get a courtesy car to tide you over.